The semantics of wind, sail, and other quirks of the English language.
This was supposed to be a single sentence long, saying only that I’m feeling listless and unmotivated. Then, what happened was, while I considered what to title the entry, I described myself as having no wind in my sail, and I started thinking about the way that “sail” has a homophone in “sale,” and “wind” (a gust of moving air) is the same word as “wind” (to turn in a circular motion), which made me think about the ridiculous word “cleave,” which means both “to join” and “to separate,” and then I wondered about the contract we make with text, that when we read the phrase “He had a wind in his sail,” we instinctively go for the correct meaning, instead of simply floundering about with our mind screaming “Something in his sail was rotating in a circular fashion? What’s that about, Hemingway?” Or when we hear the same phrase, our minds don’t immediately assume that a tiny gale is pushing about all the bargain items on the tables.
Just funny, is all.
Congratulations to Brazil on a stunning finish yesterday morning. Now get back to practice, hombres, because the US will be back in four years to do this thing right. Sho’nuff.
Just found out, via HannibalV, that Kyle Baker is publishing a sequel to his riotously funny “The Cowboy Wally Show.” I’m standing several steps from bliss.
And there it goes. No more motivation anymore. Easy come, easy go.
Current music: Norah Jones, “Come Away With Me”
Creative Control 